Method of producing conical structures



p 1964 c. R. REES Em. 3,149,598

- METHOD OF PRODUCING CONICAL STRUCTURES Filed Nov. '7. 1961 2Sheets-Sheet l 7 l I I 1 l l I 2 l E l v ---!3 l l v 4 I I 4 I 1 l 32%34 i I I 20 L, T; l i I 31 Q flvmwnes FRANCES ELIZABETH REESADMINISTRATRIX OF ESTATE OF CLAUDE RUSSELL RESS, DECEASED 5 CHARLES W-KRAUT 26$ WILLIAM KENNETH EASTWOOD SULLEY GEORGE HENRY EATON Sept. 22,19.64 c E ETALv 3,149,598

7 METHOD OF PRODUCING CONICAL STRUCTURES Filed Nov. 7, 1961 2Sheets-Sheet 2 INVEIVTOIZS FRANCES ELIZABETH REES ADMINISTRATRIX OFESTATE (X CLAUDE RUSSELL REES, DECEASED CHARLES w. KRAUT WILLIAM KENNETHEASTWOOD SULLEY GEORGE HENRY EATON United States Patent 3,1495% METHQD0F PRGDUCKNG CGNICAL STRUCTURES Claude Russell Rees, deceased, late ofBerkeley, Calif., by Frances Elizabeth Rees, executrix, Berkeley,Calif., and Charles W. Kraut, Larkspur, @alih, and William KennethEastwood Sulley, Caulteild, West Vancouver, British Columbia, and GeorgeHenry Eaton, North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, assignors toRees Blow Pipe Mfg. Co., Berkeley, Calif.

Filed Nov. 7, 1961, Ser. No. 150,837 6 Claims. (Cl. 113120) Thisinvention relates to a method of producing conical structures whichinclude a plurality of horizontal courses of trapezoidal panels.

This method is particularly for use in the construction of waste Woodburners constructed of metal panels, but it is to be understood that themethod may be applied to the construction of other conical structuresmade of panels of any material.

An object of the present invention is the provision of conicalstructures in courses made up of shaped panels without waste ofmaterial.

Another object is the provision of a process for producing conicalstructures of different sizes using commercially available standardrectangular sheets with a minimum of waste.

A further object is the provision of a method which makes it possible todesign a large conical structure and to make jigs for producingtrapezoidal panels for the entire structure, whereby any desired numberof consecutive courses of the basic structure may be constructed toproduce a conical structure of desired dimensions.

For the sake of convenience, the invention will be described inconnection with Waste Wood burners. Such burners are in the form of wellproportioned frustums. The burner is made up of a plurality ofhorizontal courses, each of which is in the form of a frustum, and eachcourse is made up of a plurality of trapezoidal panels which are securedto each other along the side edges thereof which converge from the lowerto the upper edges of the panels. The lower edge of each course frustumis connected to the upper edge of the course frustum therebelow. Theactual connecting of the panels to each other in their respective courseand the courses to each other is standard practice and does not requireany detailed description herein.

Each course panel is made from a rectangular sheet of metal. The basicor master design from which each burner is constructed is such thatstandard metal sheets may be used with little or no waste of material,thereby eliminating the trouble and cost of obtaining sheets of odddimensions, that is, dimensions which are not normally manufactured orstocked. In order to make a course panel, the selected sheet is cut on apredetermined central diagonal from the upper to the bottom edge of thesheet to produce two identical pieces, each having short and long edgesat opposite ends thereof. One piece is reversed relative to the other sothat the vertical or original side edges of the sheet are broughttogether and secured to each other in any desired manner to form atrapezoidal panel. The two short edges of the sheet pieces constitutethe top edge of the panel, and the two long edges of said piecesconstitute the bottom edge thereof.

In actual practice, the vertical edges of the two sheet pieces areusually overlapped and secured together in any desired manner, such asby welding or by bolting. The degree of overlap may be adjusted to fitthe circumstances, but this overlap is the same for all the panels for agiven burner and constructed in accordance with this invention. Railsare formed along the two side edges of the course panel. One side edgeis usually bent to form a rail or 3,149,598 Patented Sept. 22., 1964?flange extending outwardly substantially at right angles to the mainplane of the panel, while the opposite side is bent outwardly on thesame side of the panel plane to form a rail which is substantiallyL-shaped in cross sec tion. When determining the size of the sheet to beused for the burner, allowance has to be made for the seam or overlapdown the centre of each course panel and for the rails on the side edgesthereof.

The actual formation of each course panel forms part of the presentmethod. The method also includes the steps necessary to arrive at thesize of the panels for each course, and particularly the upper and loweredges of said panels.

In carrying out the present method, a master cone is drawn on paper anddivided into any desired odd number of horizontal courses of equal slantheights. The theoretical dimensions of the cone should be such as toinclude the frusto-conical structure for anything from the smallest tothe largest burner that it is desired to build. In other words, adesired number of courses from the top down of the cone would make upthe smallest burner to be built, while a desired number of courses fromthe bottom up would make up the largest burner. The dimensions of theburners produced according to this invention depend upon the slantheight of the various courses, the degree of slope of the conicalstructure, and the size of the metal sheets from which the course panelsare to be made.

The present process includes three basic factors, name- 1y, (1) all thetrapezoidal panels for burners developed from a given master cone havethe same mean width, (2) a desired number of panels is selected from thetop or No, 1 course of the cone, and the number of panels in eachsucceeding course is a multiple of the number in the first course, and(3) a mean diameter is selected for No. 1 course, and the mean diameterof each succeeding course is a multiple of the first course diameter.

The mean diameter and the number of panels for the top or No. 1 coursehas to be worked out by trial and error in order to be able to usestandard and readily available metal sheets without waste of material.

For the sake of clarity, a set of figures and dimensions will now beused for constructing desirable wood waste burners, and reference willbe made to the accompanying drawings, in which,

FIGURE 1 illustrates a master cone used to work out the dimensions ofdesired burners of different sizes,

FIGURE 2 illustrates a standard metal sheet ready to be cut on a centraldiagonal line,

FIGURE 3 shows a finished course panel, FIGURE 4 is an enlarged crosssection taken on the line 4-4 of FIGURE 3, and

FIGURE 5 diagrammatically illustrates a wood waste burner constructed inaccordance with the present method.

FIGURE 2 illustrates a sheet metal 11 of standard dimensions, and inthis example, the sheet is 4 feet wide between its side edges 12 and 13,and 10 feet long or high between its end edges 15 and 16. Sheet 11 iscut along a central vertical diagonal 18 into two identical pieces 19and 20. Piece 1-9 has a narrow edge 22 that is exactly the same lengthas a corresponding narrow edge 23 of piece 20. Similarly, piece 19 hasat its opposite .:end .a wide edge 25 that is the same length as acorresponding wide edge 26 of piece 29.

One of the sheet pieces 19 or 20, in this case, piece 19, is reversedrelative to the other piece to bring the side .edges 12 and 13 togetherto form a trapezoidal panel 30.

.The adjacent edges 12 and 13 .are overlapped, as clearly shown inFIGURE 4, and joined together in any suitable manner, such as bywelding, to form a vertical central seam 32 in the panel. The slantingedges formed by diagonal cut 18 provide side edges 34 and 35 for panel30 which converge upwardly from the relatively long lower edges 25-26 tothe short upper edge 22-23. The customary side rails are formed alongside edges 34 and 35. In this example, piece 20 is bent outwardly alongthe sloping edge thereof to form flange 37. Similarly, piece 19 is bentalong its sloping side to form a flange 38 which is L-shaped in crosssection and projects from the same side of the general plane of panel 30as flange 37, as clearly shwon in FIGURE 4. As the course panels 30 of aburner are usually bolted together, flange 37 is provided with aplurality of holes 48 therethrough and throughout the length thereof.Flange 38 includes a web 42 which is opposed to flange 37 and has aplurality of holes 43 therethrough throughout the length thereof. Withthis arrangement, the flange 37 of one panel 30 may be bolted to flangeweb 42 of the next adjacent panel.

Panel 30 has a mean width, indicated by line 46, midway between itsupper edge 22-23 and its lower 25-26. It has been found that sheet 11may be economically used to produce panels 30 having a mean width of 41inches for use throughout the entire burner to be constructed. Theoriginal sheet is 48 inches wide, and when allowance of one inch is madefor seam 32 and 6 inches for the side rails formed by flanges 37 and 38,the resulting width is 41 inches. If six panels of a mean width of 41inches are used for the top or No. 1 course, this results in a coursewith a mean diameter of 6.5 feet. It should be kept in mind that thecalculated dimensions are approximate. The six panels provide a meanscircumference of 246 inches, and this divided by 3.1416 gives a meandiameter of 6.5 feet. Thus, in the carrying out of this process with thefigures used in this illustration, the mean panel width of 41 inches,the six panels of the top course, and the mean diameter of 6.5 feet forthe top course are the basic factors.

A master cone 50 is constructed on paper in order to determine the widthof the upper and lower edges of the panels 30 for each course.

As each sheet 11 and, consequently, each panel 30 is feet long or high,the slant height of each course is approximately 10 feet. However, as instandard practice, there is a small overlap between adjacent courses,the etfective slant height of each course is a little less than 10 feet.The slant height of cone 50 is divided into an odd number of equalspaces, each space representing half the slant height of the course. Theslant height of the illustrated cone 50 is divided into 21 equal spacesto provide 10 complete courses, said divisions representing incrementsof 4.875 feet. The spaced solid lines 52 represent the upper and lowerboundaries of the courses, and broken lines 53 represent the meandiameters of the respective courses. Cone 50 is divided into coursesNos. 1 to 10, No. 1 being the upper course and No. 10 the bottom course.There are six panels 30 in course No. 1, and the numbers of panels inthe succeeding courses increases by multiples of this number. Forexample, course No. 2 has 12 panels, course No. 3, 18 panels, and downto course No. 10 having 60 panels. The mean diameter of course No. 1 is6.5 feet, and the mean diameters of the succeeding courses increase bymultiples of this number. For example, the mean diameter of course No. 2is 13 feet, of No. 3 is 19.5 feet and down to course No. 10 having amean diameter of 65 feet.

In order to calculate the respective lengths of the upper and loweredges of the panels 30 for each course, you determine the circumferencesat the top and bottom of the course and divide the number of panels ofthat course into said circumferences, and this gives the upper and loweredge widths of each panel for that course. The diagonal 18 for eachsheet 11 to be used in producing the panels for said course is noweasily located. The narrow edges 22 and 23 of sheet pieces 19 and areeach onehalf the width of the upper edge of the desired panel, and

the wide edges 25 and 26 are each equal to one-half the width of thebottom edge of said panel.

The upper and lower edge widths of panels 30 for course No. 1 aredetermined as follows:

The bottom circumference 55 of course No. 1 is the mean circumferencebetween known mean circumferences 57 and 58 of courses No. 1 and No. 2,said circumferences being 246 inches and 491 inches respectively. Thus,the circumference of lower edge 55 of No. 1 course is 369 inches. Asthere are six panels 30 in No. 1 course, you divide six into 369, andthis results in a lower edge 25-26 width of each panel of 61.5 inches.As each of the wide edges 25 and 26 is half this length, each of thesewide edges is 20.7 inches. The upper circumference 60 of course No. 1 isdetermined by taking the mean circumference between mean circumference57 of course No. 1 and the next course up. As the latter is the apex ofthe master cone, it has a slant height equal to half the slant height ofthe other courses. Therefore, circumference 60 is 123 inches. Dividethis circumference by 6 and you arrive at a top edge width of 20.5inches for each panel 30 of course No. 1. This results in each of thenarrow edges 22 and 23 being 10.25 inches long. Thus, the combinedlengths of narrowv and wide edges 22 and 26 equals approximately 41inches, the mean width 46 of panel 30.

The widths of the upper and lower edges of panels 30 for each succeedingcourse is determined in the same manner as for course No. 1, the meandiameter and the number of panels for each course being known. Forexample, the tops and bottoms of the panels for course No. 2 would be30.7 inches and 51.1 inches respectively; and the tops and bottoms forcourse No. 3 would be 34.1 inches and 47.7 inches respectively. Thus,master cone 50 is used to determine the dimensions of the panels 34) foreach of a desired number of courses.

When it is desired to construct a burner of dimensions coming withinthose of master cone 50, the desired courses for the burner are selectedfrom the master cone. FIG- URE 5 illustrates a burner 70 utilizingcourses Nos. 3 to 8 of the above-described master cone 50. The size,shape and number of panels are known for each course. For example,courses Nos. 3 to 8 would have 18, 24, 30, 36, 42 and 48 panelsrespectively. As the panels for each course are the correct sizes, it isonly necessary to put the panels together in courses to form frustums,one on top of the other, starting with course No. 8 as the bottom coursefor the burner. Ventilating openings 72, and an access opening 73 may beformed in panels of course No. 8.

It will be understood that the dimensions set out above are examplesonly. For example, if the mean diameter of course No. 1 is 6 feet 3inches, a mean sheet width of 39.3 inches may be used, and this isproduced from a sheet 4 feet by 10 feet by making the panels with anoverlap or seam of 2.7 inches. A sheet width of 42 inches provides adiameter increment of 5.58 feet, approximately.

What we claim as our invention is:

1. The method of producing conical structures in courses which comprisesselecting rectangular sheets of a desired length and width, cutting thesheets for each course on a vertical diagonal into two pieces, reversingone piece of each sheet and securing it to the other piece of said sheetto form a trapezoidal panel, the angle of cut from the vertical of thesheet of each course being increased over that of the previous course oflarger diameter, the number of panels in each course being less thanthat of the previous course of larger diameter, all of the panels forthe courses being of the same mean width, joining the non-parallel edgesof the panels of the first course to produce a frustum, joining thenon-parallel edges of the panels of each successive course to producethe course, and securing the bottom ends of each course to the top endsof the course immediately below.

2. The method of producing conical structures in courses which comprisesselecting rectangular sheets of a desired length and width, cutting thesheets for each course on a vertical diagonal into two pieces, reversingone piece of each sheet and securing it to the other piece of said sheetto form a trapezoidal panel, the angle of cut from the vertical of thesheet of each course being increased over that of the previous course oflarger diameter, the number of panels in each course being less thanthat of the previous course of larger diameter, all of the panels forthe courses being of the same mean width, joining the non-parallel edgesof the panels of the first course to produce a frustum, joining thenon-parallel edges of each successive course to produce a course of adiameter that is a predetermined amount less than the diameter of thenext course below to form a burner wall having a predetermined slope,the number of panels in each course being less by a predetermined amountfrom the number of panels in the course below, and securing the bottomends of each course to the top ends of the course immediately below.

3. The method of producing conical structures in courses of trapezoidalpanels, which comprises determining the number of courses, increasingthe mean diameter of each course from the top course down by the sameamount from the diameter of the next course above, determining thenumber of panels for the top course and progressively increasing thenumber of panels in the courses from the top course down, selectingrectangular sheets of a desired length and width for the production ofthe course panels, cutting the sheets for each course on a verticaldiagonal to produce two identical pieces each having narrow and wideends, reversing one piece of each sheet and securing it to the otherpiece of said sheet to form a trapezoidal panel, the widths of the topsand bottoms of the panels of each course being determined by the numberof panels in said course and the diameters of the top and bottom of saidcourse, all the panels for the courses being of the same mean width,joining the non-parallel edges of the panels of the first course toproduce a frustum, joining the non-parallel edges of the panels of eachsuccessive course to produce the course, and securing the bottom ends ofeach course to the top ends of the course immediately below.

4. The method of producing conical structures in courses of trapezoidalpanels, which comprises determining the number of courses, increasingthe mean diameter of each course from the top course down by the sameamount from the diameter of the next course above, determining thenumber of panels for the top course and progressively increasing thenumber of panels in the courses from the top course down by multiples ofthe first course, selecting rectangular sheets of a'desired length andwidth for the production of the course panels, cutting the sheets foreach course on a vertical diagonal to produce two identical pieces eachhaving narrow and wide ends, reversing one piece of each sheet andsecuring it to the other piece of said sheet to form a trapezoidalpanel, the widths of the tops and bottoms of the panels of each coursebeing determined by the number of panels in said course and the diameterof the top and bottom of said course, all of the panels for the coursesbeing of the same mean width, joining the non-parallel edges of thepanels of the first course to produce a frustum, joining thenon-parallel edges of the panels of each successive course to producethe course, and securing the bottom ends of each course to the top endsof the course immediately below.

5. The method of producing conical structures in courses of trapezoidalpanels, which comprises determining the number of courses, increasingthe mean diameter of each course from the top course down by a multipleof the diameter of the top course from the diameter of the next cousreabove, determining the number of panels for the top course andprogressively increasing the number of panels in the courses from thetop course down, selecting rectangular sheets of a desired length andwidth for the production of the course panels, cutting the sheets foreach course on a vertical diagonal to produce two identical pieces eachhaving narrow and wide ends, reversing one piece of each sheet andsecuring it to the other piece of said sheet to form a trapezoidalpanel, the widths of the tops and bottoms of the panels of each coursebeing determined by the number of panels in said course and thediameters of the top and bottom of said course, all the panels for thecourses being of the same mean width, joining the non-parallel edges ofthe panels of the first course to produce a frustum, joining thenon-parallel edges of the panels of each successive course to producethe course, and securing the bottom ends of each course to the top endsof the course immediately below.

6. The method of producing conical structures in courses of trapezoidalpanels, which comprises determining the number of courses, increasingthe mean diameter of each course from the top course down by a multipleof the diameter of the top course from the diameter of the next courseabove, determining the number of panels for the top course andprogressively increasing the number of panels in the courses from thetop course down by multiples of the first course, selecting rectangularsheets of a desired length and width for the production of the coursepanels, cutting the sheets for each course on a vertical diagonal toproduce two identical pieces each having narrow and wide ends, reversingone piece of each sheet and securing it to the other piece of said sheetto form a trapezoidal panel, the widths of the tops and bottoms of thepanels of each course being determined by the number of panels in saidcoursevand the diameters of the top and bottom of said course, all ofthe panels for the courses being of the same mean width, joining thenon-parallel edges of the panels of each successive course to producethe course, and securing the bottom ends of each course to the top endsof the course immediately below.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,171,005 Stoddard Feb. 8, 1916 1,498,176 Lachman June 17, 19242,912,075 Pfistersharnmer Nov. 10, 1959

1. THE METHOD OF PRODUCING CONICAL STRUCTURES IN COURSES WHICH COMPRISESSELECTING RECTANGULAR SHEETS OF A DESIRED LENGTH AND WIDTH, CUTTING THESHEETS FOR EACH COURSE ON A VERTICAL DIAGONAL INTO TWO PIECES, REVERSINGONE PIECE OF EACH SHEET AND SECURING IT TO THE OTHER PIECE OF SAID SHEETTO FORM A TRAPEZOIDAL PANEL, THE ANGLE OF CUT FROM THE VERTICAL OF THESHEET OF EACH COURSE BEING INCREASED OVER THAT OF THE PREVIOUS COURSE OFLARGER DIAMETER, THE NUMBER OF PANELS IN EACH COURSE BEING LESS THANTHAT OF THE PREVIOUS COURSE OF LARGER DIAMETER, ALL OF THE PANELS FORTHE COURSES BEING OF THE SAME MEAN WIDTH, JOINING THE NON-PARALLEL EDGESOF THE PANELS OF THE FIRST COURSE TO PRODUCE A FRUSTUM, JOINING THENON-PARALLEL EDGES OF THE PANELS OF EACH SUCCESSIVE COURSE TO PRODUCETHE COURSE, AND SECURING THE BOTTOM ENDS OF EACH COURSE TO THE TOP ENDSOF THE COURSE IMMEDIATELY BELOW.